That's what I like about Moffat: in order to do something big, he doesn't have to pull out all the stops and have a big alien invasion, or kill off a bunch of people. Take how he did The Big Bang, and how it actually had a very small cast for most of the episode.

I also enjoyed the little nods to Star Trek scattered in the episode. The guy on the bridge with an eye-piece (Geordi), Azran is told the ship crashing is "Galaxy-class", the design of the bridge is a take off of the JJ Abrams Enterprise bridge, and as the ship is crashing later in the episode there are lens flares all over the place.

OK, I guess I'm not insane. Well, probably I am, but at least that was one of my lucid moments! Even cooler, I see Kazran appears to be wearing a more authentic design. (And so those who'd argue Davison's Doctor unraveled the scarf, that was the series 18 burgundy version, not the introductory series 12 design. I choose to believe that one "survived" simply getting lost in the Doctor's wardrobe.

Apparently, she was dying of this illness, and supposedly, Mr. Sardick having her frozen was a blessing in disguise: she could stay frozen until a cure could be found. But in the end, she gives her life so that the people on the ship can live.

I loved how the Doctor genuinely found their costumes confusing at the end. He genuinely had no idea.

It's part of the Eleventh Doctor I absolutely adore. His brain's lighting quick and he sees the big picture fairly clearly, but its the small things that fly right past him. It just reinforces the concept of being Old despite his body. He's not "current" on small things, so it kind of sails right over his head.

Frankly it makes me kinda wish Eleven and Captain Jack would meet up. Mainly because I'm fairly certain if Jack tried to make a pass at Eleven, it'd just go right over his head. Eleven just comes across as the kind of guy who would bring a bucket of popcorn to a Sex Ed class.

Apparently, she was dying of this illness, and supposedly, Mr. Sardick having her frozen was a blessing in disguise: she could stay frozen until a cure could be found. But in the end, she gives her life so that the people on the ship can live.

The paradox that Scarazn had been so changed by the Doctor's meddling that he couldn't use his isometric machine bothers me a lot.

An excuse to get Abigail to sing, but not a great one. If he'd changed so much that his father wouldn't have given him control, then how was he able to refuse to help the Doctor? Who has been controlling the clouds since his father passed away? You're right that there is an unsatisfying paradox here. Much the same problem I had with the paradox of 11 being able to get himself out of the Pandorica. I think whenever Moffat wants to start playing with time like this you just need to turn off your brain to enjoy it (also like Bill+Ted's Excellent Adventure).

I think the paradox is supposed to be that no matter what the Doctor did to make Kazran a better person the ship was going to crash, which is a bit like "No matter how nice Scrooge got, Tiny Tim was still poor."

Christmas is not in the middle of winter. It's at the beginning.The solstice is the first day of winter.

Christmas is at the middle (well, really close) of the solar cycle. Very close to the shortest day of the year. I thought the comment wasn't too far off, but I'd need to rewatch the episode. Did the Doctor really say "middle of winter"? Perhaps winter comes earlier on that planet such that the solstice is at the middle?

Or maybe it's yet another slip on a show that has a history of playing loose with science?